When we (and that includes me, for sure) whine about Obama’s shortcomings, it’s useful to remember all of the important things that have changed somewhat below the surface, at least below the surface of everyday conversation or bloviating. A case in point is the fact that the corporate “nutritionist” front group Smart Choices has virtually agreed to go out of business, faced with pressure from the federal government, and some state governments, including our own.
Under pressure from state and federal authorities who feared consumers would be misled, the food industry on Friday started backing away from a major labeling campaign meant to highlight the nutritional benefits of hundreds of products.
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Officials with the program said that Smart Choices would suspend most of its operations while they waited for the Food and Drug Administration to devise regulations for package-front nutrition labeling. Those rules could differ from the program’s criteria.
“I regard it as a partial victory,” said Richard Blumenthal, the Connecticut attorney general, who recently began an investigation into the program to see if the labeling campaign violated his state’s consumer protection law. He called on more companies to pull out of the program.
Among the Smart Choices was Kellogg’s Fruit Loops, which, would, I suppose, be a smart choice if the only other choice was a meal consisting of pure sugar.
This is the sort of thing corporations could do unchallenged during the Bush Administration. Under Bush, Blumenthal might well have been opposed by the Federal government, which might have claimed that his efforts were preempted by Federal law. Bush did a lot of harm with the bureaucracy. He handed numerous agencies over to the corporations they allegedly regulated. Obama can undo that harm, and he is, this Smart Choices situation being just one example. Just as Bush’s moves went largely unremarked, Obama’s have been largely ignored. It’s often said that a president’s Supreme Court nominations are of prime importance, and they are. But appointments to the bureaucracy can have a huge and lasting impact. The country is a lot better off already thanks to Obama.
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